


The Adventure Zone: Balanced Destiny

by Maybeanartist02



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Impermanent Character Death, OC insert, OCs - Freeform, Past Abuse, uhhh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 17:04:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20246302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maybeanartist02/pseuds/Maybeanartist02
Summary: In every story, there is a point of inevitability.The point of no return.The start of everything going downhill.Val Young's point of no return isn't a single day, a single moment, but, moreso a accumilation of several moments throughout her long life.The day things start to really move, is perhaps the day she meets Merle Highchurch.





	The Adventure Zone: Balanced Destiny

Valkyrie isn’t tired.

Elves don’t get tired. They may meditate if they desire to replenish their lost spell slots, but they don’t need to sleep.

Valkyrie isn’t tired.

She isn’t weighed down by her camping gear on her back, despite her low strength—she’s not!

If she’s trying to convince her mind or her body, well, that is what she is debating as she slumps against a tree, and drops to her knees with little abandon.

(She might be a bit worried over landing on the wand in her pocket, if she was conscious enough to realize.)

It is by pure happenstance, and perhaps a little luck (if one could put it that way) that Mavis finds her while on a walk.

It is not surprising, however, that Mavis Highchurch brings the collapsed adventurer back to their current camp.

And when she wakes, she is momentarily guarded. But not many can resist the charm of one Merle Highchurch and his family.

Xxx

Valkyrie has no idea where she is.

She sits bolt upright, eyes wide as all her senses return to her, seemingly at once.

Her eyes scan the area, and she realizes, a little belatedly, that she’s in a tent. There’s a lamp hanging overhead, and the futon on which she’s sitting is on the opposite side of the opening, and the only other things in there are piles of books.

She pouts, crossing her arms as she stares them down.

_Don’t, you are not safe, you have no idea where you are--_

But any attempts to reason with herself are thrown out the window as soon as she sees the title of the first book.

_The Full Autobiography of The Seven Birds _

Val, having lived very long already in human standards, was very well versed in the realms of magic. She wasn’t always very interested in the affairs of singular people, but the seven birds weren’t really…a normal occurrence.

And they dealt in Planar Research, which she had been researching for years, too.

She remembered the day of story and song, who couldn’t, after all? Even though it’d been six years already, she remembered hearing the story, and the song. She remembered learning about the IPRE, their journey through existence, hell, she’d even gone to see the Starblaster with Cora once, before…

Well. point was, she knew the general twist of things.

However, only very few people knew who the seven birds _were_.

To say Val is curious, would be an understatement.

Val crawls over to the stack of books, and carefully lifted it off the pile. She flips it open and began to read.

And then the door-flaps fly open, and suddenly there is a young Dwarf in the tent.

Xxx

“You’re sure she was alone, Mave?”

Merle’s tone is soft as he lets his daughter lead him towards their camp. Mavis was nodding feverishly, “Yes, dad. She was alone, collapsed under that tree!”

“Alright, alright,” Merle says, nodding as Mookie jogs ahead, “I believe you.”

Then they hear Mookie exclaim:

“You’re awake!”

And suddenly he’s inside the tent. Hurrying to follow, Mavis and Merle find Mookie bouncing up and down on the futon, speaking a mile a minute.

“Hey, hey! Do you wander? Have you ever seen a dryad? Mavis has! Can you do magic like aunt Lup? Hey, why’re you so pale!”

“Mookie!” Mavis shouts, causing both his and the elf’s face to whip to the entrance, where she and Merle stand, “slow down there,” Merle says calmly, “let the poor girl catch her breath.”

The elven girl didn’t really need that though, as suddenly she is crouching in the corner, book under her palm, wand in hand.

“Who are you?” she asks.

Mavis and Mookie both back up, but Merle takes a step forward.

“Hey, we ain’t here to hurt ya,” he says, voice a level smoother than usual.

The elf studies him carefully for a second, before something seems to click in her brain, and her posture shifts to a more unguarded one.

“You’re Merle. From…from the story.”

Merle smiles at her assessment. “You’re a smart cookie,” he says. She huffs, storing away her wand in her pocket, “so I’ve been told.”

“Well, you know my name,” Merle says, still cautious as to not cause her to put her guard up again, “can I have yours?”

She hesitates, but nods, “it’s Val.”

Merle hums, nodding, “Well, Val. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” she says, before asking, “where are we?”

“A forest clearing near Neverwinter,” Mavis says, and after catching Val’s questioning look, added, “I’m Mavis. That’s Mookie.”

Val manages to smile as she sees Mavis wrap her arm around Mookie protectively.

“Sorry for the near-attack,” she apologizes, and Mavis relaxes, “you two, Mookie.”

Mookie smiles, seemingly unbothered.

“Well, Val,” Merle smiles, “you must’ve been tired. I reckon you’re hungry, too.”

Val laughed, breathless, “Yeah,” she shrugs, “guess I am.”

And somehow, that one day changed her life forever. 

** **

** **

** **

** _xxxx_ **

Val had never liked staying in one place for long. 

Maybe that was why she liked Merle’s guild….camp? Guild. Guild so much. They were always on the move, adventuring, conquering dungeons with older groups, training in areas of arcana she never was allowed to dabble in. They’d train with younger campers, exploring cursed forests and abandoned ruins.

In her moms’ school they taught all areas of Arcana, but Val was only ever allowed to mess with the wizard spectrum, which, in hindsight wasn’t _nothing_, but she was far too curious to be satisfied with this.

With the Adventurer Guild, she was able to learn from sources, even if they were just beginners.

And by living with Merle, she would be able to learn from the best of the best.

After half a year, they returned to the clutter of cabins the seven birds had built on a beach near Neverwinter. There currently were seven cabins, 5 for the birds (Barry and Lup lived together, and Davenport lived with Merle and his kids) and two for guests, or Merle’s campers.

Taako and Kravitz lived in the biggest one with Angus (Naturally), and closest to them were Lup and Barry. Closest to the ocean was Merle’s, which he shared with Davenport, and his kids stayed. Closest to Neverwinter, on the edge of the forest separating the beach and the city, lived Magnus and his dogs. Lucretia was usually on the road with Killian, Avi and Carey, but when she was there, she lived in a cabin farthest away from Taako, but still in the circle. Avi would usually stay with his folks in Neverwinter, while Carey and Killian had an apartment in the city to stay at.

The cabins were all standing around a fireplace with benches, and on a sturdy balcony that Magnus had built, there was a long table and benches, enough to support the seven and guests.

It was beautiful at night.

Merle is leading his kids and Val through the forest, and the sun is already setting when they leave Neverwinter, so it isn’t that surprising that it’s fully gone when they emerge, and in it’s place, is the moon, with miles worth of stars sparking around it.

Val stares at them.

She rarely saw stars in Rockport.

She feels smaller than them, younger.

Suddenly, the other planes are very far away. 

“Merle!”

The voice was quiet to Val, still distracted by the stars, but it did the trick for Merle.

“Dav!” Merle exclaims, considerably brighter as the two crossed the distance between them, the fireplace crackling behind the gnome, and three Reapers and a burly man sitting at the table. “Where’s everyone at?” Merle asked.

“Taako’s in Refuge for the weekend to talk over things with Ren, Luce’s out with the organization, and Ango’s staying at a friend’s to study.”

“So it’s just us and the dead guys?” Mookie asks, which draws Val’s attention.

“Yes,” Dav confirms, then turns his gaze to Val, “mind introducing us, Merle?”

“Oh, yes, why of course,” Merle says, promptly pulling up his pants as he puffs out his chest, “Davenport, this is Val, my best camper, probably ever.”

Val scoffs, “I think I’m well past the point of camper,” she says, “I’m more like. Co-leader.” Merle laughs, nodding as he agrees, “let’s wait a bit on that front.” 

Davenport sticks out a hand to her, “Well, Val, welcome to our little slice of Faerun. I’m Davenport.”

Val smiles, “Thank you. Val.”

Dav beams, before drawing his attention to Mavis, “you look older, Mavis,” he says, “how have you been?” Dav begins to lead her and Mookie to the dinner table, and Merle gestures for Val to follow, before following himself.

Val sighs. She glances to the stars for a moment, before following the dwarf to the fireplace.

“Sup, Merle!” greets the burly man, “whose the new face?”

“Magnus, Lup, Barry, Kravitz,” Merle begins, nodding to each one of them, “this is Val, my prized…camper.”

“If you’re gonna hesitate, you can at least end up saying partner, because, let’s face it, that’s what I actually am.”

Merle pouts, but the elf snorts, and the pale human is trying very hard not to. The burly human giggles, while the black half elf man tries (and fails) to suppress a smile.

“Hey,” Val says, waving with a proud smile, thrilled that she’d made such a good impression right off the bat.

“Sup,” said the light skinned elf, promptly patting the space beside her, “my bro’s not here tonight, so you won’t get the full experience, but I’ll just have to fill in for him.”

Val luckily didn’t have to sort their faces to names, because Lup and Magnus were already doing it.

“I’m Lup, my bro’s Taako, he’s the idiot wizard you probably heard of.”

“Probably,” Val said with a definite nod.

“I’m Magnus!” Magnus says, promptly grabbing her hand to shake it, “this gloom’s Kravitz, and that’s Barry. Welcome!”

“Thanks,” Val laughs, “it’s a pleasure to meet you all.”

“The pleasure is ours,” Kravitz says, in a posh yet not accented voice. Val couldn’t help the smile from fighting it’s way to her lips. She hadn’t felt this genuinely welcomed in a long time.

“So, Val,” Barry drawls, leaning over the table, “what do you do?”

Val blinks, then claps once, “Oh. I’m a wizard,” she hesitates, before proceeding with her introduction, “I specialize in Evocation magic.”

“Sweet,” Lup notes, “any specific kind or just all around?”

“Well,” Val says, folding her hands, “I try to keep myself well rounded—in all schools of magic, natch—” Lup and Kravitz share a look at her usage of ‘natch’, but let her continue, “—but I do favor ice and water spells over the others, though sometimes you just need a good fireball.”

Lup laughs, wrapping her arm around Val’s shoulders, “You got that right,” she agrees. Val smiles at her as Dav hands her a plate filled with delicious food.

Lup backs off, watching her out of the corner of her eye as Kravitz, Barry and Merle begin to converse.

_Yeah_, she thinks as Val begins to chow down, _she’ll fit right in._

And she does.

Xxx

Val, for the next few years, always seemed to be gone at the most inopportune times.

When she wasn’t on the road with Merle and his kids, or visiting her friends in Rockport, in secret, she was accepting jobs from a tavern in Neverwinter. When she wasn’t out on a job from there, she was helping the reapers with trickier assignments, or keeping the local Raven Queen Temple up to speed.

She never went to Istus’ temple.

She hadn’t managed to run into any of the other birds, aside from Angus.

It was a warm summer night, and she had just returned from a simple find and retrieve earlier that evening.

She was sitting by the docks, eating a plate of Lup’s delicious cooking.

She was always saying how much better her brother was at it than she.

The stars were sparkling overhead, and torches illuminated the beach—not that she needed them to.

And then, there were footsteps.

“So,” a youngish voice said, and her ear twitched as she moved her head, “you’re Merle’s apprentice?”

In front of her stood a young man, maybe 15 or so—Val had become good at telling other non-elves ages—with soft brown eyes, dark skin, and curly brown hair. He was dressed preppy, not necessarily fancy, but traces of it were clear.

“Is that what he called me?” she asked with a smile, “last time it was camper.”

he laughed.

“May I sit here?” he asked. She nodded, “Sure.”

He sat down before speaking again, “he’s very proud of you, you know.”

“Oh?”

The boy nodded, “yes, you’ve won his respect. That’s quite the feat, in my experience.”

Val snorted, “I don’t know what I did. I’m just trying to stay busy. Learn everything I can while I can.”

“I bet he sees himself in you.”

Val giggled, “Yeah, but I don’t flirt with plants.”

The boy cringed, and Val giggled some more as he said, “No…well. that’s fair.”

Val put her plate away and pulled her wand out, beginning to cast prestidigitation, and cause mini fireworks to jump out of the sleek metal of her wand.

“You’re a wizard,” he observed.

“Yeah, nice going captain obvious.” There was no malice in her voice, which Angus wasn’t used to.

“what school?”

“Evocation, tryin’ my hand at Enchantments, though.”

He nodded, “I’m a Divination wizard, but…Enchantment. That’s difficult.”

“Yes,” Val nodded, “and dangerous. Each person reacts to an enchantment differently, which makes it so difficult.”

He hummed.

Then there was silence.

“I’m,” he said suddenly, and Val raised her brow, “I’m Angus, by the way.”

Val smiled as he held out his hand.

She took it, “Valkyrie. Hope I didn’t scare you.”

Angus smiled, “Ma’am, I’m the world’s greatest detective, I’ve seen far scarier shit than you.”

Val laughed, at the contrast of his polite ‘Ma’am’ and his usage of the curse ‘shit’.

“Fair enough,” she said, shrugging as the moon—now single, and twice as bright—shone over them.


End file.
